The scientific rehabilitation programme and releases of rehabilitated wildlife opened doors with International Universities and Animal Study Institutions sending their students for further studies and doing their practical work at Riverside.

With massive rehabilitation enclosures measuring more than 6 Ha and presently housing more than 500 monkeys and other wildlife species RWRC is not only the biggest primate rehabilitation centre in South Africa, but the biggest vervet monkey rehabilitation centre inthe world, the only privately owned centre not receiving Corporate or Government funding!

DEFINITION OF REHABILITATION

Restoration of normal /former capacities and position.
Rehabilitation of orphaned, domesticated (humanized) wildlife species to wild status and their release into a sustainable safe natural environment. To educate, train and change the perception and values of the public and communities to care for and to protect our indigenous wildlife heritage.

PURPOSE OF WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTRES

With the decimation of natural wildlife habitat, due to development, the ever-increasing demand for consumptive use of wildlife and natural resources, more and more wildlife become in need of help, protection, healing and rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation of wildlife started in the early years of mankind when injured, orphaned, or diseased animals, birds and reptiles were healed and replaced in the wild by mostly farmers and individuals on small scale with limited classified literature. Techniques and skills were established but only recently classified. Rehabilitation during those early years was then considered a human moral obligation and responsibility.
Rehabilitators developed their own healing and rehabilitation protocols and by studying the ethology of a specific species learned how to heal and rehabilitate wildlife, which had never been given a chance of survival.

Experience was gained with the hands on caring, monitoring and treatment of wildlife on long and more permanent basis. This hands on experience working with a specific wild animal species, made specialist and experts out of established rehabilitation centers dealing withsuch specific species. Equipped with all this synthesized knowledge and skills on specific species we are now in a better position to protect and to raise and care for any possible wildlife species that may face extinction in future.